Monday, August 17, 2009

Travel & Friendship

I love meeting people. There are very few people I have met over the years that have not had something interesting to share. This last week, I got to meet, face to face, two more of my cyber friends- our very own Caryl, and Thom Bahde from "Old Bike Blog".

Our first stop was in Santa Monica to meet up with Caryl.

Caught in the act!

We decided to ride and walk around Santa Monica and Venice Beach. It was great watching Caryl shoot- she sees it and has it in the camera before I can get my lens in line! She is also just as fast at dodging out of the way of the camera and is wicked hard to get a shot of (but I got a bunch!)

Which comes first?

We both have a silly sense of humor, so this place was impossible not to shoot! Only in Venice Beach have I ever seen this combination (the place had "Medicinal" pot, as well). Speaking of pot...

I'd be looking over my shoulder, too!

Venice Beach sure sells a lot of it! With the bikes flying by all the time, it is SoCal's own little Amsterdam (and just like the Dutch town, the pot is for the tourists : )

While walking along we saw so many things, it was hard to take it all in. Sometimes it is the, relatively, quiet things that stand out the most.

We found out we have a similar eye for material.

Caryl

me

What does this have to do with bicycles? Well, let me tell you- bicycles seem to come with automatic community. Caryl and I met because she needed a bicycle and my stepfather sent her to me to ask about how to get the right one. He didn't send her to his favorite bike shop, he sent her to a person. That is the glory of the bicycle, the bringing together of people who would, otherwise, never meet. Caryl is 22, single and living in Los Angeles while I am a 38 year old, married, mother of three in San Francisco. A desire to ride as a part of life, mixed with a love of taking pictures of people on the move, has given each of us something truly special- a new friend.

This collection of photos is beautiful, interesting, fun, everything! Looks like a great day. I love what you say about cycling and community. I've met so many people through cycling, especially blogging about cycling. Even people I have not "met" in person, like you and Meli, I feel like I know :)

It is funny- when we were kids we had pen pals ( I got mine through a TV show called "Big Blue Marble"). The whole goal of having a pan pal, especially one from over seas, was to one day meet them. No one thought that was strange. These days, we meet people through this electronic medium, and because of the instant nature of it, we find it strange.I think bicycles are the bridge. They are tangible and we all use them and can rely on them to be a commonality for us to hold on to in the "real" world. I think it makes making online friendships easier to accept.